Brotherhood
by RetroRebel85
Summary: The sequel to La Bella da Firenze! Ezio, now happily married, is forced to take up the fight against the Borgia once more to liberate Rome and lead the Brotherhood! A novelization of Brotherhood with major changes in character and story. EzioxOC
1. Vilified

**Brotherhood**

**1: Vilified**

**1500 - Monteriggioni**

Ezio and Rachele had been married for twenty-three years now, living peacefully in the Auditore Villa. As the two lay together one January morning, the cannons at the front of the town fired suddenly. Rachele sat up, worried. Ezio's hand rested on her shoulder. "It's target practice, sweetheart. Don't worry." she lay back down, when a cannonball smashed through the bedroom window and into the beams holding the room up, causing the ceiling to collapse! The two dived out of the bed, and Ezio donned casual clothing, pulling the hidden blade across from the table and attached it to his arm, with Rachele taking the other one and puttting it on her right arm.

"I have a plan. We get the townspeople out and then meet back here to get our families out. Well, your family." Rachele ran through the door into the main hall to join up with Mario's mercenaries. Ezio climbed out of the newly exposed window and ran along the tiled rooftop, overseeing the ruined town. Who was behind this? Andreotto was dead, there was no way he could've done this. Could he? Then again, following the Creed... Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

Another cannonball forced Ezio to blindly leap off the roof, landing beside his uncle Mario.

"Uncle!" Ezio shouted.

"Ezio! I spoke to Rachele about the evacuation, it's already underway." said Mario.

"Okay, I'll go assist the guards at the gate. Wait, what of Claudia and mother?" he asked.

"They're safe, and waiting in the sanctuary!"

"Who's behind this?"

"It's the Borgia!"

"WHAT? How did we not see this coming?"

"They must've massed in the east last night, over darkness. I have the Apple! _Insieme per la vittoria!" _Mario grasped his nephew's shoulders.

"_Insieme!"_ Ezio turned and sprinted towards the training yard, springboarding off of the walls and onto a horse.

He galloped through the town, dodging the fleeing townspeople. He had to steel his heart to not help them. A woman ran panicked around the square, calling for her children, a child sat crying under a tree, a teenaged girl was being drowned by the Borgia troops... this wasn't a battle, this was a massacre. And if Rodrigo Borgia wanted war, it was a war he was getting. Another cannonball made a nearby wall collapse, smashing the horse's head with it. Ezio instinctively leapt off the horse and onto the building nearby.

He climbed up to the battlements, approaching the cannons. One of the soldiers turned to him.

"SIGNOR AUDITORE, THANK GOD!" the man shouted.

"Load the cannon." Ezio commanded. Ezio took aim, and fired it at an approaching seige tower, sending it crashing to the ground. The man loaded the cannon again, and Ezio fired at a row of other cannons, destroying each. Ezio turned to tell the man to load again, but then noticed that his head had been impaled with an arrow. Another man turned to Ezio, pointing at the other side of the walls: Borgia troops had gotten onto the walls! Ezio turned and rushed through the battlements, locking into combat with a group of guards. A short while later, Ezio was finished, but the main gates had been blown open. Ezio leapt off the walls and tumbled onto the rooftops.

Mario stumbled through the dust and flames. He collapsed at the attackers' feet. Some of the Borgia arquebusiers took aim at him, as the attacker shouted up. "I know you're there, Ezio! The Pope told me about you and your little group of assassins... and this!" he held up the Apple. There was no point attacking now. "Give me the gun his friend fashioned for us. We've had too much bloodshed. I think a cleansing is in order. So, consider this an invitation from my family... to yours!" he laughed as he took aim with the pistol and shot Mario in the back of the head with it. Ezio screamed in pain, as the arquebusiers fired at him, sending him to the street.

Rachele stood hidden in shadows near him. The Borgia attackers had left, but some of the troops were pillaging the village. She was pressed against the wall, shivering in fear.


	2. Emergency Exit

**2: Emergency Exit**

Rachele and some of Mario's soldiers dragged Ezio through the streets, when the assassin decided that he could walk again.

"_Bene! _I can walk!" he panted. Rachele handed him a dagger.

"I heard about Mario. I'm sorry, Ezio..." she trailed off, noticing a Borgia platoon walking towards them. "Whatever are you waiting for, you idiots? Attack them!" she shouted to Mario's mercenaries. The two squads attacked each other, giving Ezio and Rachele a chance to escape. As they climbed the stairs to the Villa, Claudia was backing away from a few attackers.

"Ezio!" she shouted, blocking a guard's sword with her stilletto.

Rachele rushed to the guard, knocking him to the floor, giving Ezio a chance to leap on him with the hidden blade attached to his arm.

"Follow me!" Claudia ran off with Ezio and Rachele in close pursuit, eventually reaching Mario's ruined office, where the thieves and whores of Monteriggioni were escaping along with any remaining citizens.

"HOLD THE DOOR!" shouted Ezio to one thief.

"_Ser _Ezio! We thought you were dead!" he remarked, amazed.

"Not yet!" Rachele grinned. Claudia ran on through the gap to find Maria, Ezio's loving mother.

"Where does this passage lead?" asked the thief, and Ezio noticed that he had an eyepatch.

"To the north, outside the city walls." Ezio replied.

"I'm surprised it exists!" the thief gasped, and ran to help the other troops.

"Hurry, Ezio!" came Claudia's voice.

"Where's Maria?" asked Rachele.

"I'm here, my dear!" Maria called back.

Ezio led the group down to the Assassin Statues, specifically, Altair's. Pulling a lever behind his cape, a door behind the statue opened, and the Auditore family ran through it. Running through the catacombs with the Borgia patrols close behind, Ezio vaulted up onto a platform whilst letting the girls escape. Pulling a lever, the gate they had run through suddenly dropped onto the head of a Borgia guard, splitting him open and sending blood all over the floor. Ezio rejoined the girls outside.

"Where is Mario? I thought he would be waiting for us here!" Claudia gasped for air. Rachele hugged her.

"Mario... Mario is dead." sighed Ezio. "You must leave this place. Take Rachele and mother to _Firenze_."

"You're not coming? Where are you going?" Rachele asked.

"To Rome." Ezio replied.

"Go, my son. Destroy them. But remember for who we Assassins fight!" she nodded and hugged him. Rachele kissed his cheek.

"Be safe. _Vittoria agli assassini!" _she shouted.

"_Vittoria agli assassini." _he whispered back.

Claudia, finding Leonardo da Vinci's old wagon, helped Maria into it, taking the reigns with Rachele.

Ezio rode to Rome on Mario's old horse. He started to drop in and out of conciousness, but eventually couldn't hold himself up anymore. He collapsed off the horse and onto the road.


	3. As Good As New

**ACT 1: A WILDERNESS OF TIGERS**

**3: As Good As New**

Ezio's eyes opened, revealing to him a small shack. He tried to sit up, but the pain in his ribcage forced him back down. A woman, portly and around her mid-thirties by the looks of things, rushed to Ezio.

"_Calmatevi_. The pain will end soon." she said. Her voice was gentle and soft.

"Where have you brought me?" he asked.

"Nowhere, _messere. _A man left you here." she replied.

"Did he say anything?" he said.

"Only this: you are to meet _Messer_ Machiavelli in front of the Mausoleo di Augusto. Let me help you get dressed." she said, and lay down robes with the Assassin's Crest on them. Ezio smiled. New threads.

"The same man who brought me here gave me these clothes?" he said.

"_Si, messere."_ she replied. Ezio pulled the robes on, tightening the straps and attaching the Hidden Blade to it. The woman opened the door for him, revealing the countryside of Rome.

"Ah... Roma." sighed Ezio.

"Yes. Or what's left of it since the Borgia came to power." she frowned.

"And the Mausoleo?" he asked.

"You can't see it from here." she shook her head.

"... what about from the top of the church?" he smirked.

"But the stairs are closed!" she laughed.

"Not a problem. _Vi ringrazio di tutto quello che avete fatto per me, buona donna. Addio!" _he shook her hand and left, heading towards the church.

"I need to find a doctor. My arm! Shit... my back..." he gasped in pain. A doctor's stall stood nearby, as Ezio approached it, the doctor welcomed him.

"_Salute. _I require medicine." Ezio explained.

"Let's have a look. Someone your age can't recover from a wound like this with medicine! Here's something to dull the pain, you'll heal over time." the doctor laughed, and handed him a vial of brown liquid. Ezio took a swig. It was good.

"_Grazie!_" Ezio thanked him.

"You know, four out of five doctors would suggest leeches, but they aren't as effective against... is that a gunshot wound?" he asked, but Ezio was already at the church.

"Someone my age. _Imbecille..."_ Ezio sighed. He was getting older, there was no doubting that.

Ezio, now having scaled the church tower, sat perched on a wall. A wall towering seventy feet off the ground. He looked around, and stood up. Taking in the beauty of Rome, he leapt off of the wall and into a haystack below. As he jumped out, a Borgia squad walked past, detailing their plans for a hapless citizen. "Machiavelli can wait..." Ezio smiled, as he followed the men through the streets.

"Hey, _idiota!_" they taunted the citizen.

"Oh, come on, you jerk, I've been working all day!" he sighed, but was knocked to the ground by the Sergeant's punch. Ezio stood, waiting for his chance. One of the guards went to investigate him, but was met with a blade to the face. His body fell backwards, alerting the others. "What sorcery is this?" one of them whispered, visibly frightened.

"Not sorcery, boy. Skill!" Ezio smiled, remembering Mario's first words to him way back in 1476. It seemed like a lifetime ago now. Rushing to the others, catching them unaware, the citizen being tortured punched his attacker in the crotch, causing him to cry out in pain. Ezio made short work of the soldiers, turning his attention to the incapacitated one. The assassin stared at the man... he looked like Vieri de Pazzi. Leaving him, he helped the civilian up.

"Thanks..." he smiled at Ezio, shaking his hand. His eyes fell to the Assassin symbol on Ezio's belt. "Assassin?" he asked.

"Yes." Ezio replied.

The man pulled up his sleeve, revealing the same symbol burned into his skin.

"_Vittoria agli assassini!"_ he cheered. Ezio laughed... one more ally.


	4. Well Executed

**4: Well Executed**

Ezio walked into the square, looking around. A woman's body hung from the gallows, with a man weeping at her side. Ezio approached him.

"She was beautiful." he put his hand on the man's shoulder.

"She was... until that _porco_ defiled her! I just wish he'd killed her. I wish he'd just killed _la mia amata!_ People who saw her grow up cheered when he spat on her! Smiles on their faces when her neck..." he trailed off, sobbing.

"I understand." said Ezio.

"How can you? My Livia was innocent!" the man cried.

"I too have lost family to the rope... to treachery." he bit his lip, tears slowly forming when he thought of the Auditore execution.

"Il Carnefice watches from his home on the hill above. He threatened to hang me if I cut her down!" the man wept.

"When you're ready, take her down. I'll deal with _Il Carnefice._" Ezio set off towards the hill.

A short time later, and Ezio had climbed it. Scaling the wall of _Il Carnefice's _garden, he listened to their conversations.

"Nice work!" a guard complimented him.

"Eh, not my best. It's hard to make good art without sufficient materials, eh?" the executioner laughed. Ezio leapt from the wall and onto a guard, attracting the attention of the executioner and the Borgia troops protecting him.

"You didn't think this through!" _Il Carnefice_ taunted him. As Ezio hacked, slashed and punched his way to his target, he slidekicked him onto the ground, then pinned him to it, shoving the Hidden Blade into his neck. Ezio laid him down gently, closing his eyes.

"_Requiescat in pace._"


End file.
